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Acronyms
Acronyms get used a lot in Geocaching for writing logs. This page is dedicated to tracking various Geocaching acronyms and what they represent. Acronym List *A.P.E. - Alternative Primate Evolution - refers to the Project A.P.E. series of caches *BOT - Base Of Tree *BYOP - Bring Your Own Pen/Pencil *CITO - Cache In Trash Out *CO - Cache Owner *DNF - Did not find *DNNTGOOB - Did/Do Not Need To Get Out Of Boat - Used for paddle caches that can be reached from a seat low to the water *D/T - Difficulty / Terrain *EGG - Easy Guardrail Grab *FTF - First to Find - Less commonly will be seen STF and TTF (Second to Find and Third to Find) * GC - Geocoin *GZ - Ground Zero - refers to the cache's hiding spot *GPS - Global Positioning System *GPSr - Global Positioning System Receiver *GPX - GPS eXchange Format - a file type used by GPSr's *GRC - Guard Rail Cache *LN - Left Nothing *LOC - a file type used by GPSr's *LPC - Light Pole Cache *MTT - Multi Trunked Tree *NM - Needs Maintenence *OP - Original Poster - used primarily on the forums to reference the person who started a post *PAF - Phone a Friend - when a cacher calls a friend to get a hint as to a cache hide *P&G - Park & Grab - refers to a cache that would be close to a parking spot that can be quickly found *PI - Poison Ivy *PO - Poison Oak *PQ - Pocket Query *QAEPAG - Quick and easy park and grab *QEF - Quick easy find *ROOT - Ran out of time *ROT13 - a particular variant of the Ceasar Cipher used for the Geocaching.com hint system *RW - Rock Wall *SL - Signed Log *SOOP - Something Out of Place - describes an oddity at GZ that hints to finding a cache *SPOR - Suspicious pile of rocks *STF - Second to Find *SWAG - Stuff We All Get *TB - Travel Bug *TBD - Travel Bug Drop *TFT? - Thanks for the Mystery Cache *TFTC - Thanks for the Cache *TFTE - Thanks for the Event *TFTH - Thanks for the Hide *TFTFTF - Thanks for the First to Find. Sometime shortened to TF3. *TN - Took Nothing *TNLN - Took Nothing, Left Nothing - See below *TNLNSL - Took Nothing, Left Nothing, Signed Log - See below *TOTT - Tool of the Trade - Any tool used in the progress of acquiring a cache *UPR - Unusual Pile of Rocks *UPS - Unusual Pile of Sticks - this would also be SOOP *UTM - Universal Transverse Mercator TNLN and TNLNSL TN, LN, and SL (Took Nothing, Left Nothing, and Signed Log) are often combined together in various ways to indicate that a Geocacher signed the log, neither dropping nor grabbing anything from the cache. The acronyms are a very integrated part of the geocaching culture. The TFTC/TFTH Debate These acronyms often find their way into debates. The debate centers around situations where a geocacher logs a find and says nothing in their log beyond the acronym, such as "TFTC!" One side of the debate finds this rude, particularly with geocaches that require more work to find. The idea is that if a geocacher spent time putting together a cache for the finder's benefit, the finder owes it to the hider to take a few minutes to say a little more than TFTC. The other side of the debate is that some geocachers use TFTC because they are logging a find from their phone, with the intention of updating the log at home on a computer. With the ease at which geocachers can now log finds using geocaching apps on their phones, there has been an increase of TFTC logs. Since cache owners receive Log Notifications only from the initial log, and not any subsequent edits, they might overlook updates to that log in such a situation. It is also often pointed out that if a geocacher finds a geocache that they were unimpressed or even annoyed with, they may have logged it with nothing more than TFTC as a way to avoid saying anything negative. Category:Geocaching Terminology